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lazylucid 's review for:
House of Chains
by Steven Erikson
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
House of Chains acts more like a sequel to book 2; however, the book focuses entirely on a new character.
We follow Karsa Orlong, who had an extremely disturbing start at the beginning and is not someone I’d think to be rooting for; this is where Erikson’s character work shines the most, and it is his best by far. With just a few pages, Erikson was able to humanize Karsa and draw sympathy from the reader; his journey was by far my favorite, and I’m excited to see where it's headed next.
House of Chains is full of compelling characters and dynamics. I loved Lostara and Pearl’s hilarious verbal sparring, Onrack and Trull’s bromance, the tragic Felisin and Tavore, and Apsalar, Crokus, Fiddler, and Kalam already being favorites from past books. I was glad to be back with them.
While I think this book is brilliant, I do think it is a weaker Malazan book so far; a lot of it is spent building up to the convergence, the clash between Tavore and Felisin, only for it to be resolved within a few pages and feel anticlimactic. A lot of this feels more like a classic fantasy adventure book than an epic fantasy.
We follow Karsa Orlong, who had an extremely disturbing start at the beginning and is not someone I’d think to be rooting for; this is where Erikson’s character work shines the most, and it is his best by far. With just a few pages, Erikson was able to humanize Karsa and draw sympathy from the reader; his journey was by far my favorite, and I’m excited to see where it's headed next.
House of Chains is full of compelling characters and dynamics. I loved Lostara and Pearl’s hilarious verbal sparring, Onrack and Trull’s bromance, the tragic Felisin and Tavore, and Apsalar, Crokus, Fiddler, and Kalam already being favorites from past books. I was glad to be back with them.
While I think this book is brilliant, I do think it is a weaker Malazan book so far; a lot of it is spent building up to the convergence, the clash between Tavore and Felisin, only for it to be resolved within a few pages and feel anticlimactic. A lot of this feels more like a classic fantasy adventure book than an epic fantasy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, War